The happiest measles epicenter on earth. Bloomberg/Getty Images

Comments

2
whats with all this anti-anti-vax group think? it's not as cut and dry and perfectly 100% safe and perfect as people are assuming it is. look up vaccine court. our kid has been vaxxed so far, but it's definitely not an easy matter in the cases of some vaccines that are questionably useful. and if you want to bring up people with compromised immune systems, they are are at risk to all kinds of shit, not just what un vaxxed kids could have - and even vaxxed people can still carry live contagions. not trying to be a dick, but articles like these are dickish to people who think marching toward a totalitarian mandatory vaccine law of the land is a little over the top considering just how behind closed doors all the vaccine settlements have been, and there have been many (usually just bad batches of vax but still). sorry if i was a dick about this, but it literally feels like a psyop to get a law passed for mandatory shots, and unoriginal me-too writing like this just piles onto the bandwagon.
3
Well dabbler, you're not just a dick. You are an idiot too
4
@1 Too bad. It is one of the best Stranger Articles that I've read in a long time.

@2 Hmmm... How about this. Vaccinate because Health and Science triumph fear, ignorance, death and disease.
6
Vaccine courts exist to settle claims that may be casually related to vaccination incidence. There have been few or no proven cases of actual cause. Otherwise, given the litigious nature of U.S. society, vaccine manufacturing would be too risky as an undertaking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_cou…

Although there is no law (and probably couldn't be), it does make good public health sense to forbid unvaccinated children from entering public school.

Most parents would prefer it if unvaccinated children stayed well away from Disneyland, malls, and public places, but that's unlikely to occur.
7
Because, @dabbler, Herd Immunity actually *is* a good thing. It is a statistically tested, sound, scientific theory, and we have years of evidence to back it up. And Because, @dabbler, vaccines themselves have been tested, and are a scientifically sound way to prevent contagious diseases, and there is global evidence to back them up. And Finally, @dabbler, this is a Public health issue, and anti-vaxxers intentionally use empirical data known in scientific communities to be deeply flawed, and by doing so put irrational fears of nearly non-existent consequences ahead of the statistically higher likelyhood of consequences vaccinating... imperiling not just their children, but countless others.

If you want to go live off the grid, homeschool, and rarely interact with the outside world, then I have no objection to you not vaccinating. But if you want to pass me on the street ofa major city, or send your children to a public school where my immune-compromised child goes, then I will loudly object.

I laugh at your ironic comment about our "group think". The vast majority of anti-vaxers are clustered in groups who communally decide to embrace bad science. The people you are accusing of engaging in "group think" are the scientific community, and those that believe science is a real thing.
8
Oh, thank god! I remember Rachel Kessler's work here from many years ago. It was always a joy to read, and it still is! And I bet you could have worked through with a fucking homemade metal double lightsaber.
10
Stupidest thing I've read on SLOG in a long time.
11
Disney can't stop unvaccinated children from running wild. Disney theme parks are only semi-private property, legally. They skirt the public/private property divide, as do many places, like shopping malls. Private places where the public commonly congregates have certain requirements, like bathrooms, drinking fountains, and the inability to discriminate based on religion. Since there is a religious exemption from vaccination, Disney preventing unvaccinated children from attending the park would cause a lawsuit that would go all the way up to SCotUS. Disney doesn't want that.
I support vaccination. I do not believe vaccines cause autism (although I have seen a reputable, compelling study that suggests thimerosal can cause demyelination of nerve fibers in young children). Immunity, herd or otherwise, is important. At the same time, we need to not get as hide bound and tunnel visioned as anti-vaxxers. Sometimes, there are laws that get in the way of what we want, and all the complaining in the world will do no good until those laws are changed first.
12
I like the literary style of swapping between issues. Wish I had a writer's bent.
13
Theoretically speaking, I have no problem with folks' personal choice to reject proven science. But when their decision to buck herd immunity affects my kids health and that of my community then their choice is no longer only theirs. I'm with bgix - if this is your belief, more power to your personal fact-free delusion. But y'all have no right to aim your potentially fatally germ laden kid at someone else's w/impunity. Can't wait for the first wrongful death case where antivaxxer parents are sued by the bereaved parents of a child with compromised immunity. When the legal sh*t hits the fan, perhaps their selective belief in science might evolve. Cuz since science is so weak and lame they don't trust modern antibiotics or use western medical doctors... If they want to reject the needs of our community, fine. But you don't get to keep all the benefits that community offers without complying with community responsibilities. If they make the hard choice they need to reap the hard consequences!
14
@ 10, I don't know about "stupid," unless you're an an anti-vax zombie, but it was poorly written. The overuse of adjectives made it read like some creative writing 101 mess.
15
In the words of the (def. to be ) immortal Kimmel: "Anti-vaxxers are more afraid of gluten than they are of smallpox". There's no hope for them. Disney needs to bar them from the parks.
Airport security peeps in Colorado Springs confiscated my pink baby nail clippers. Yep, they might not have been capable of cutting strings but clearly were lethal terrorists' weapons.

16
Not sure what part of my comment made you think I'm an anti-vax zombie, Matt @14, but my critique stands. Stupid. Ranting, raving, lunacy. And yes, very poorly written.
17
This article is a mess. You have two way different narratives. The back and forth between your earrings and measles makes it difficult to follow, or try to understand your point. It is better just to make a quick statement about the earrings and go on about Know Nothings anti science crowd/Anti Vaxers..

Edit this, get to the ponts you want to make in your paragraphs shorter,a nd stop rambling..
18
I enjoyed this article. The writing about birthing. Omg. I want to convey to my friends the coughing fit I had this morning in similar language. Alas, I cannot.
19
Agree with @12 and 17, I kept looking for a missing paragraph. This is a word salad of tl;dr.
20
I got through 6 paragraphs.
Sylvia Plath's suicide note was better.
At least that had a point.
21
Ignore the fucking idiots above, Rachel, was a good piece - thanks for it.
22
Are there immunizations that protect against ADHD caused by Instagram?
23
I like your earrings.
24
So, trust what the majority of scientists say about vaccination but The Stranger also took a decidedly "we can't trust what the majority of scientists say/just can't be sure yet" stance against GMOs... got it.
25
Highly amused. Nice writing.
26
I thought it was a very nice article. I don't understand this new trend at Slog to act like we're all insecure Freshmen in a creative writing class, wanting to pile on an author - and I really don't understand what would make a person comment that an article is "too long;didn't read". You didn't read it. Why are you commenting?

And I really, really, really wish that the at-risk tech youth at The Stranger would force the date of registration onto commenters profiles. We always seem to get so many new people whenever anything "controversial" is posted, and I would dearly love to give them the welcome to Slog that they so very much deserve. It's the welcome wagon hostess in me.
27
Disagree with the herd here: this was a great piece, nicely done Rachel. (Disclosure: my kids are vaccinated without regret).
28
Great read, really well written and entertaining. Thank you.
29
Nobody who works at Disneyland gives a shit about what earrings you are wearing, because they work at Disneyland. Call it fiction, call it trolling for the above 28 comments...this never happened
30
I wouldn't be surprised if the index case in disneyland came from Washington - maybe vashon.
31
"For every 1,000 children who get the measles, one or two will die."
Really? Is that supposed to be scary? In case you it did't occur to you, The face of the antivax movement is a grieving parent who already lost her baby. So, you see, that statistic isn't scary at all. Besides, nobody has died from the measles in ages. It's all hypothetical. But what is not hypothetical is the fact that many, many babies are dying from vaccines.
In fact, so many babies are dying that the USA is now 56th in the world in infant mortality. Here and now in the USA one out of every 128 babies dies before turning five! Did you know that? And, did you know the National Institutes of Health published a study in 2009, back when the USA was 34th in IMR, entitled "Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?" This study proves our babies are dying from too many toxic vaccines. So, what did the CDC do in response? Why, the CDC just kept adding more.
As for your obsolete suggestion that Dr. Wakefield was discredited, I'm sorry you didn't hear Dr. Wakefield was recently vindicated and cleared by a court of law. His research is true. Parents already knew. I'm sorry if you didn't hear about Dr. William Thompson, former researcher for the CDC who came out with evidence proving that the autism MMR link was revealed in research he worked on for the CDC in 2004. Thompson released the information on his attorney's website in August, 2014. You can look it up if you want. Or, you can go ahead and laugh it up and join Jimmy Kimmel in making fun of all the traumatized parents while they do their best to recover while trying to warn the rest of us.
As for your weapon-claw earrings? They are horrendously ugly. They are almost a
s gruesome as the CDC and Pharma combined as they contrive to make billions while pumping us full of toxins no matter how many babies die.
It's time to wake up. It's time to do something. It's tiem to remember the the face of the antivax movement is a grieving parent who already lost her baby.
.
32
First off, the countries with lower infant death rates than us also have higher vaccination rates than us, almost exclusively.

Second - Dr. Wakefield was not vindicated in any way, shape, or form. His research was still fraudulent, which was determined outside of the courts - the courts were looking into another set of issues entirely (the ethics of using children in the research and hiding some conflicts of interest) which Wakefield was found guilty of, ASIDE from his scientific dishonesty. The trial you mention was of an associate of his, and was likewise investigating not his results, but the same ethical issues that were investigated in Wakefield. His associate was not found guilty, but Wakefield still was - because he was much more involved in ethically suspect aspects of the research.
33
All these ridiculous people who are against vaccinations and cell phones and anything else invented after they were children are just people with an overwhelming fear of death.

Well, I have news for you: You're going to die. So will your children. That's what we do. So just enjoy life while you can - and that includes not hiding under the bed and listening to every quack who wants to sell you something.
34
Not a chance this actually happened. Disney does not give a shit about your tasteless ear rings.
35
theresathinnes@31 referenced the following paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles… . The CDC did publish it on their site, and there it is. However if you ever want to see an honest-to-god "Peer Review", then follow that link with this one: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/vacc… which is a point by point explanation of why the preceding document is "Bad Science".

Highlights:
- A single year was used (2009) to "prove" the assertion. If the assertion held water then other years would show the same pattern. They do not.
- Cherry-Picked countries that support the conclusions, and excluded countries which didn't.
- Different counting methodologies used per country to maximize "doses" for countries with high IMR, and minimize doses for low IMR countries.
- Researches themselves both long-time well known anti-vaxxers, without subject matter expertise. One is an "independent researcher", the other a computer scientist.

Like any other good pseudo-science body of work, the papers project started from it's conclusion, and worked backwards to find data that could be massaged to support it. Kind of like Ken Ham and his "Creation Science".
36
The "anti vax" nutters need to be neutered and spayed. Simple as that.
37
@31 babies die from diseases, not vaccines. Please stop spouting your ignorance, you and people that spread the misinformation above are actually the ones causing higher rates of disease.

And big pharma isn't making huge profits on vaccines, they are less profitable than other drugs and account for less than 2% of worldwide revenue. Here's an article with real linked sources: http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skeptical…
And if you trust a random antivax blog over numbers from the WHO, you've got bigger problems and should probably hide in a forest somewhere so the bogeyman doesn't get you.
38
Vaccinations routinely carry ingredients such as polysorbate 80 and thimerosal (mercury) which cross the blood-brain barrier and impact fertility and immunity. People trust the CDC and the "medical establishment" without ever looking at the funding behind any of it, or the political think tanks driving those institutions. It's really just absolute, complete blind trust to authority. Do a little digging and will find that the political ($$$$) side is seriously interested in population reduction through the use of fertility-damaging environmental contaminants, which include vaccines, GMOs, fluoridated water, CFL bulbs (mercury), Wi-Fi, and the list goes on and on and on... anything to protect the eco-system and also the **RESOURCES** that are owned by the central banking institutions.
39
“The present vast overpopulation, now far beyond the world carrying capacity, cannot be answered by future reductions in the birth rate due to contraception, sterilization and abortion, but must be met in the present by the reduction of numbers presently existing. This must be done by whatever means necessary”.
-Initiative for the United Nations ECO-92 EARTH CHARTER (UN Agenda 21)

“We must speak more clearly about sexuality, contraception, about abortion, about values that control population, because the ecological crisis, in short, is the population crisis. Cut the population by 90% and there aren’t enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage.”
-Mikhail Gorbachev, former USSR president and co-founder of UN Agenda 21

“There is a single theme behind all our work–we must reduce population levels. Either governments do it our way, through nice clean methods, or they will get the kinds of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control, it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it….” “Our program in El Salvador didn’t work. The infrastructure was not there to support it. There were just too goddamned many people…. To really reduce population, quickly, you have to pull all the males into the fighting and you have to kill significant numbers of fertile age females….” The quickest way to reduce population is through famine, like in Africa, or through disease like the Black Death….”
-Thomas Ferguson, State Department Office of Population Affairs
40
Thanks for the warning about Disneyland, Rachel. JEE-ZEUS!! Vaccinate your kids, people!
This is why I don't hesitate about getting my annual flu shot.

Question: If the useless members of the House of Republicans, GOP Senate Majority and Congress all got free trips to Disneyland, with ensuing epidemic exposure, would that help
end the Era of Stupidity?
41
It is trivially true that overpopulation is a problem that nearly all world leaders and citizens are concerned with. It is not the slightest bit true that anything you listed above is shown to impact fertility.

42
Hollowman -- I think the ball is in your court, actually. Prove without a doubt that the CDC and the medical establishment that is pushing vaccinations is not corrupted around certain topics and issues. You won't be able to. They have a political agenda and the paper trail is a little too public. They try to cover it with propaganda, but anyone with any sense of research can see the writing on the wall. The people involved have enough money to purchase many people, like yourself, to post on comments sections, which they most certainly do.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articl…

http://nsnbc.me/2014/02/10/harvard-scien…

http://vactruth.com/2014/09/10/cdc-corru…

http://anticorruptionsociety.com/2015/03…

http://www.wnd.com/2010/03/127346/
43
This sums up the situation nicely, as it includes vaccinations, as well. CDC, FDA, WHO -- they all play the same game.

From http://nsnbc.me/2014/02/10/harvard-scien…

"The researchers warn that since 1906, commercial influence has compromised Congressional legislation to protect the public from unsafe drugs, adding that the authorization of user fees in 1992 has turned drug companies into the FDA’s prime clients, deepening the regulatory and cultural capture of the agency.

Part of the regulatory and cultural capture of the FDA has enabled the industry to successfully demand shorter average review times. Less time to thoroughly review the evidence, warn the researchers, has led to increased hospitalization and death."
44
This article wasn't worth it the first time. Why, for the love of Seattle, did you repost it on Saturday? Your viewers have been complaining about this recent new habit since it started. Slog's first excuse was a temporary dearth of "journalists". You've clearly added quite a bit of staff, even if you're only paying them by the story as independents. What is Slog's excuse for this lazy crap now?
45
So, I'm conflicted. That title is terrible. Is the author really trying to imply that Theme Park operators should require vaccination records for entry? And those earrings..?! I thought Disney 's dress rules were well known. But then I read the article and it was thought provoking and rather good.
48
What was the point of meandering back and forth between the ticket-taker earing police and childbirth and vaccines?
49
Why would you tell us how much your earrings cost? That is the least relevant information you could give us about them. Items aren't priced based on how lethal they are.
50
While I despise anti vaccers as much as the next rational sane human, what the fuck is Disney supposed to do? Ask for people's medical records at the gate? Do blood tests?

What is it with this trend in Stranger articles now for the writers to make everything about them? Guess what Stranger Writer? Your God awful ugly earrings that the world can see were tacky in 1987, if they fly off on Space Mountain and smack some 7 year old in the face? Disney is on the hook for a law suit.

A minimum wage Disney worker can't peer into your soul and know your an antivaccer lunatic. But they can see those refugees from a Poison video hanging off the side of your giant head.
51
@43
NSNBC ? now there is a reliable source for you.

Glad to see your degree from Google U is paying off in such dividends!
52
Ha! I didn't even notice that, señor guy. I assumed it was just a typo and they meant MSNBC. I'd never heard of nsnbc. That's quite a site hey have there.
53
Brilliant article. Pity about all the dickholes in the comments.
54
I don't see why women wear those dangling big loops with or without such sinister looking adornments. If you had only been a bit more fashion concours, you wouldn't have created such a commotion and kept up with your family.
55
Still though, it was a good read.
57
Sidda99 needs to take a damn science class. It's clear to anyone who can read that s/he doesn't understand the simple concepts like scientific method, peer review or the germ theory of disease.
58
@57 -- I think Sidda99 would take a science class, but there are UN Black Helicopters lurking just outside his door, and he is afraid his tin-foil hat will get blown away, which will leave him susceptible to Chemtrails and WiFi.
59
I'm on your side but you are way too wordy - unnecessary to go through your whole history to make a point...regardless of where these "security" people may be, they are ALL enamored with far more authority than they really have - which was proven here !!
60
I had a really hard time reading this, mainly because I really just wanted to know what happened regarding your earrings, so I had to keep skipping around the piece to get that narrative in one go.

I already know way more than I need to know about lunatic anti-vaxxers, I'm more interested in stories about Disneyland employees and I was very interested in yours specifically just from the title and first bit. Then I got exasperated and there was no payoff, nor explanation. Now I am just sad.
61
@27: Thank you and bless you!

By the way, Rachel--I really like your earrings! Where did you get them?

Just to let folks know--and I'm not trying to be a Disney-downer or doomsday-sayer, so please don't get me wrong, here. I have plenty of good memories of Disneyland, too--but there are some additional hazards at Disneyland (and a lot of other amusement parks as well) besides what the corporation considers as publicly unacceptable dress codes and non-vaccinated children spreading preventable diseases cross-country. Be aware, too, of height / weight and clearance levels on certain rides (read: The Matterhorn Bobsled, for one).
I LOVED the Matterhorn the first time I rode on it back in the day--at age 8 (=good memory). Much later, as a returning adult tourist and U.S. armed forces veteran, even with scrunching way down low inside the bobsled and keeping my entire body well within the confines of the ride--the interior tunnel passages were so narrow while going at top speed that I was scared shitless I'd lose a hand or my head would fly off (=scarier memory). Fortunately, nothing bad happened my second time on board the Matterhorn as a fully grown 20-something. But that really DID happen once--to a child who got up while the bobsled was moving, and became instantly and tragically decapitated. Amusement park height / weight / clearance warnings are there for good reason.

I dunno--despite its international reputation for being "The Happiest Place on Earth", the thought of working as a Disneyland park employee sounds highly stressful to me. Maybe it's partly because I never had kids.
Anybody amongst us bloggers who has worked at an amusement park? What are your thoughts?
62
p.s. Maybe it's also because I have recently finished reading Stephen King's amusement park themed novel, Joyland, for good summer escapism reading.

Sorry if I got off on a tangent.
63
@42

First off, asking someone things like "prove without a doubt the CDC is not corrupt" is conspiracy nitpicking 101. Obviously I cannot disprove that, anymore than I can disprove that reptilian aliens run our government or that there is a interstellar BDSM club on Mars. its also besides the point, since the ball is in both our courts - it just so happens that all the evidence is on my side, and so you resort to flailing at random topics and making weird challenges.

On the weird challenge front, exactly how much am I being paid by the GM lobby, and by whom? If they are going to pay me for having an opinion, I'd sure like the check before rent comes due!
64
You are the worst type of person. Who yells at some 15 year old kid working a minimum wage job and then brags about it on the internet? While I don't agree with the policy, I would never take it out on some kid just trying to get experience on her resume and following corporate rules. You should be ashamed of yourself.

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